By Cameron Richter and Bobby Wymbs
Staff Writers
Coming off of a loss in the CIF Southern Section championship, the Mira Costa girls basketball team bounced back with its first win in state, only for its season to be ended by El Dorado on Saturday.
Costa fell to El Dorado, 57-45. Late in the game, Costa was forced to foul to send El Dorado to the free throw line, but El Dorado proceeded to make eight straight free throws to secure the win.
With the loss, Costa’s season came to an end as well as its state bid. Senior guard Camille Mills led Costa with 16 points. Right behind her was junior guard Hayley Tojo, who added nine points. Freshman guard Halle Maeda had seven points in the loss.
“We played very well, but we didn’t shoot well,” coach John Lapham said. “El Dorado was big and well coached, and we knew we would have to play at the top of our capability.”
The team was not helped when Mills was forced to sit for the last half of the fourth quarter, due to dizziness, which was a result of a possible concussion she suffered in the previous game. The girls believe that they could have come out stronger.
“We lacked energy going into that game,” senior forward Alison Bartak said. “Once we did get that energy, our momentum was too late.”
The Mustangs started slow in the first quarter, and El Dorado took advantage of the opportunity, gaining a strong lead after only a quarter of play.
“I felt that our defense and offense was doing well; it’s just the shots wouldn’t fall,” Tojo said.
Costa picked up the pace in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 24-20.
“I felt that we shouldn’t give up no matter the score,” Tojo said. “We did the best that we could.”
In the third quarter, Mills scored six points off of steals and fast breaks, with junior center Patience Taylor adding three points.
“Going into the last quarter, we knew that we could still win the game,” freshman forward Alexa Underwood said.
In the fourth quarter, Mills added four points while Tojo drilled two three-pointers, but it was not enough for the Mustangs.
“Coming in, we expected to match our quickness against their size, and I think we did a generally good job, but we couldn’t get our shots to drop,” Lapham said.
The loss gave the Mustangs a 23-12 overall record, 4-1 in CIF and a 1-1 in State.
“I am very proud of the team for how hard we competed all season,” Lapham said.
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